Free childcare facilities would help raise millions in extra revenue from taxes on working mothers, a UK think tank has estimated – and this could also hold water for Malta, according to an expert.
A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK calculated that the cost to provide free childcare facilities for all children would be £6.7 billion but government revenue generated by mothers who remain in employment as a result of the measure would far outstrip the cost.
Anna Borg, a lecturer at the University of Malta’s Labour Studies Centre, said domestic research showed that if mothers increased their working days to 50 per cent of days available to them from the current 35 per cent, government would rake in an additional €5 million per year.
“Although the latest Maltese study did not quantify the cost of free childcare I would say that the conclusions reached in the UK would broadly apply to Malta as well,” Ms Borg said.
A study by the National Statistics Office and the Labour Studies Centre last month showed the increase of working days to 50 per cent would lead to additional household income of €18.5 million per year.
Ms Borg believes the country has invested heavily in the education of children who are three years and older but childcare below that age comes at a cost to parents and is not accessible to everyone.
“We have invested a lot in the top floors but little in the foundations,” she said.
But affordability of childcare is one aspect Ms Borg is concerned about, the others being accessibility and good quality.
“Childcare facilities have to be available close to the workplace or close to home because it would be useless providing a mother in Mellieħa with free services in Valletta when she works in Mosta,” she said.
Ms Borg believes childcare facilities should be viewed as an investment by the government because it would help more women to continue working and this would lead to economic growth.
Her feelings are reflected in a recent essay by Sina Bugeja, chief executive at the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, a government agency, on the direct relationship between fertility and employment rates.
Ms Bugeja’s essay, part of a report published last month by The Today Public Policy Institute, argued that having children was still not considered by policymakers to be “a strong social contribution”.
She insisted that if this concept was understood well and accepted, major issues still unresolved might find a solution.
With reference to the recent debate about the extension of maternity leave, Ms Bugeja noted that most arguments focused on the financial costs involved.
Acknowledging that measures to improve the participation rate of women in the labour market would involve costs, Ms Bugeja insisted that the general social well-being of people was at stake.
“Doesn’t every investment require an initial outlay? The current myopic approach is not affordable and a higher price will be paid eventually,” she said.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com